Mayor Terry Ritchie tells meeting he will not quit voluntarily

Perth-Andover councillors are demanding Mayor Terry Ritchie resign and are asking Local Government Minister Bruce Fitch to address a motion put forward by the village’s deputy mayor.

Council approved the motion Monday night and also voted to suspend all meetings until the controversy surrounding the northwestern New Brunswick village’s mayor is resolved.

Councillors had asked Ritchie at their previous council meeting to resign. They said he had missed important meetings, ignored the direction of council and behaved inappropriately. He was allegedly involved in a confrontation with a local business person.

Ritchie spoke in his defence Monday night and explained the confrontation with the businessperson saying he was just mad.

The mayor also said he missed meetings because he wasn't getting notifications.

Dan Dionne, the village chief administrative officer, said the mayor receives the same group emails as everyone on council.

Ritchie also said he feels he's been instrumental in helping the village get assistance from the provincial government since last March's flood.

There was a heated exchange at Monday's meeting over alleged inappropriate postings Ritchie had made on Facebook.

When it came to the vote on the motion to ask the minister of local government to intervene, the mayor also voted in favour.

Ritchie said the minister will have to force him to resign because he's not going to do it voluntarily.

While he is now trying to force the local government minister to act in this case, Ritchie had considered resigning in September.

Ritchie said the resignation would be in protest to the provincial government’s actions to help the flood devastated village.

A flood in March forced 500 of the village's 1,780 residents out of their homes and resulted in about $25 million in damage.